Bullying

Jonah Mowry: ‘What’s Goin On’

Jonah Mowry, a soon-to-be eighth grader, tells his painful story of being bullied and inflicting self-harm sentence by sentence on index cards as he fights back tears. Jonah’s story is very moving, especially when he shifts from sadness and fear to resiliency and hope. It is a great message about bullying and resisting suicidal thoughts, particularly for LGBT students. Shortly after Jonah posted the video in 2011, it went viral and has now reached over 10.5 million views. Jonah and his mother have been invited to speak on many talk shows since its debut. Because of its popularity, many clinicians may have already seen this video, but the message is worth repeating and the video worth watching again. This video was one of PsychCentral’s Top Ten Mental Health Videos of 2011. (00:04:36)

LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdkNn3Ei-Lg&feature=youtu.be

Shane Koyczan’s “To This Day”

This video is recommended for anyone who is being or has been bullied. Shane Koyczan’s artistic vision is hauntingly poignant in this spoken word poem as he describes the profoundly detrimental effect bullying has on a person’s innermost core. It crescendos into a heart-wrenching message of finding hope while surrounded by darkness and finding strength through adversity. This video doesn’t contain any profanity, but does contain references to prescription drugs and suicide. It may not be appropriate for young or immature viewers, but everyone else should watch it. This video is available on the No Kidding? Me Too! YouTube channel. (00:07:37)

LINK: http://youtu.be/ltun92DfnPY

Girl Scouts Speak Out: Cliques

This video, created by troop members from Virginia, was the “It doesn’t have to be like this” theme winner for the 2012 Girl Scouts PSA contest. The clip emphasizes that strength in numbers counteracts bullying among young girls and would be beneficial for female students and those working them. This video is available at http://speakout.girlscouts.org/. (00:02:51)

LINK: http://speakout.girlscouts.org/finalist/winner/7

Girl Scouts Speak Out: Get R.E.A.L

This cute educational video about bullying was a finalist in the “It doesn’t have to be like this” category of the 2012 Girl Scouts PSA contest. The video presents statistics about bullying and a description of R.E.A.L, an acronym for bystanding students to use as a guideline to intervening when they witness bullying: Recognize the problem; Engage the bully in conversation; Advocate for the Victim; Locate and confide in an adult. This would be great for young students and those working with them as it provides an easy ‘how-to’ plan for intervening in bullying situations. (00:02:24)

The It Gets Better Project has grown enormously over the past couple of years in light of the recent tragic suicides of LGBT youth because of bullying. The It Gets Better Project features videos from millions of viewers, LGBT celebrities, and LGBT celebrity allies. This particular video is of President Obama, who speaks out against bullying and discrimination of any kind. A video with any celebrity could be effective for a specific age group or target population, depending on that group’s interests. All of these videos can be found on the It Gets Better Project’s YouTube channel. (00:03:08)

LINK: http://youtu.be/HzcAR6yQhF8

Stop Bullying Workshop 2 – Mental Health

This video is targeted toward mental health workers, including school counselors and psychologists. School counselor Stan Davis suggests that consistent and structured counseling interventions work best to counter bullying in schools. He advises counselors that in order for bullies to feel the consequences of their actions, they need to reflect on what they did that impacted the other student. Davis believes this is necessary because students who bully do gain some reward in being mean to other students. In the video, we see Mr. Davis at work as he reveals strategies useful for mental health professionals in such a setting. This video was created by the Department of Health and Human Services. It is available on www.archive.org and also on YouTube. (00:07:50)

LINK: http://youtu.be/He8F897KQRg

Scott Hirschfeld on Cyberbullying

This short video is basically a literature review of the recent research on cyberbullying and the impact it has on students. It provides statistics and is geared more towards professionals, but students and parents would benefit from the message as well. This video was created by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and is one of many videos available on the Anti-Defamation League YouTube channel. (00:03:34)